Dark
by Xenolord
Summary: X Guardian Maria is sent to a Drakel Super City to find and destroy the stolen Head of Carnax. Survival horror. Final chapter, up. Sorry, Orta, Crystal, I got slightly carried away with this one.
1. Into the Belly of the Beast

Dark

PrologueInto The Belly of the Beast

Maria stood before the large clear doors that lead into the Drakel Super City of Ren T'kak. Quite the disturbing sight. The only reason she would find herself in such hot water is because Warlic and Atrix had, almost literaly, tossed her into it.

It started five days ago. Maria was having lunch with Natalya; her sister, when Warlic appeared out of nowhere, right behind the X-Guardian. He explained that the Drakel had made off with a very potent magical item: The Head of Carnax the Scourge. This hit Maria like a ton of bricks. "Drakel" and "Carnax" were two things she didn't want to hear linked together in any way in the same sentence. He continued to speculate they had entended on reviving the monstrosity using Magiscience. If that was true, it would make Carnax thirty times stronger. No one save the Mage of Despair could even _hope_ to defeat it. Warlic wanted her to find and destroy the head.

He explained on the way back that he placed an enchantment on the head which would tell him exactly where it was, provided it stayed on Lore. It was moving very swiftly towards the Dragonspine Mountians, over them, and into the Dwarfhold Mountains. Maria jumped at the challenge to bash some Drakel heads. Warlic calmly gave her the access code to the door and explained how to work the Drakel doors. After that, she took off.

And now she's here, with about fifteen second thoughts in her head. This city was far larger then any she had ever encountered. But, she swallowed her stomach, liver and about three other vital organs and punched in the access code using the small panel. The door opened with a groan. She stepped in. After a little minute of looking, the door behind her slammed shut with a deafening crash. The panel on her side of the door exploded, sending a shower of sparks littering the floor. Trapped. Trapped like a BURP. She sighed. Warlic also told her that the Head would most likely be held in the center of the city, where all of the Drakel did their research. How Warlic knew this, was beyond Maria. She just wanted to do her job.

She spent four hours searching the city, until she smelt it. The rancid stench that was a combination of wet BURP, Blackhawke after dinner, and Robina's sawmill gravy (Poor girl. Tries day in and day out, but her gravy still smells putrid. Tastes worse, too). She looked into one last door and, lo and behold. There it was. The Head of Carnax. Just as ugly as she remembered it. She advanced upon it, tripping on a tube-like object laying on the ground. She looked down to see a Drakel Tube Launcher laying discarded on the ground. She picked it up and checked the ammo storage place. The clip was full. All five rounds were present. She took it up, aimed and fired at the head twice. The second time, the grotesque once-creature exploded, spraying blood and brains onto every wall. Satisfied all was well, Maria headed for the exit. Not too hard. But where were all the Drakel? Then she heard it.

An un-Lorly scream pierced the silence, her ears and her soul. She shivered at the sound. She was not alone. And these, were definenatly _not_ Drakel. Or, at least, were _no longer_ Drakel.


	2. Das Tier in Mier

Das Tier in Mir

Maria heard the scream again. This time, it was closer, angrier. She was becoming scared now. Heh. Fear. That's something she's not felt in ages. Something knew she was here, and wasn't happy about the whole thing. She stepped away from the exploded Head of Carnax and towards the door. She held her Tube Launcher at a ready. Nothing was going to surprise her.

Just has her back hit the door, a mangled, boney hand burst from the metal and grabbed at her. She screamed and tore away from the hand. Well, the hand tore away from the users are. She scrapped the still-groping fingers from her armor and crushed them under foot. She started to hyperventalate slightly, still surprised. As the shock settled in, she could breath better. This was scarier then anything she had ever faced, even Serras Nerra, the Mage of Despair. At least she was still half human. These things are half dead. If that much.

She could see more arms crawling through the hole the first one punched through. Not wanting to get groped again, Maria fired twice into the hole. More unlorely screames echoed in the distance. She had killed it. Whatever _it_ was. She hung the Tube Launcher at her side, cluched her armor where her heart was and sighed. She was safe in here, but in corraling herself here she had sealed herself from the outside world. She couldn't escape, or send word of what she was doing. She found herself in a tight squeeze. Either she, A) stood their and lived indefinately, or she B) made a break for the door and risk her life to get a message out. Not a hard decision. As much of a fan she was of not dying, she had to warn someone on the outside world. And she had to do it without dying. If she did, she didn't know if she could cheat Death into giving her a fifty-third chance. For now, she'd just have to…

Her thought process was stopped by a thud from the table behind her. She could hear very laboured breathing. Someone; no, some_thing_ was behind her. With cat-like reflexes, she dove down, turned in midair and faced her guest. It was once a Drakel, that much could be decerned. But, it was boney. Several key pieces of flesh still remaind, like it's biceps and most of it's torso. It's head was still intact, save for it's lack of right eye. It's toung hung out of it's mouth and ran halfway down it's torso. It was hunched over, one arm was longer then the other. The longer arm was the top of an arm where it was connected to the torso, but ended with a long whip-like appendage at the end. It's shorter arm was sheer claw. It's hand was laden with razor-sharp claws. It had bone-like blades extending from the top of it's wrist. Two on either side. It's head was bent down, like it's neck was snapped, but still attached. Very sharp teeth lined either side of it's mouth. What ever it ate must either be very rubbery, or must not want to be eaten.

Without a second thought, Maria leveled the Tube Launcher at it's torso and fired. The small rocket flew out and struck the beast in the cheast. The projectile exploded, fragmenting the creature into millions of fleshy chunks. These chunks then proceded to repaint the interior of the room. After everything was said and exploded, Maria looked up. There was an open grating. It lead into an air ducting system. This must have been how that; that _thing_ got in here. It was now clear that she was not safe here. She was not safe _here_ at all. She needed to get out of the Drakel City. And take out as many of those abominations as got in her way.

But her first priority was to find more ammo for the Tube Launcher. When she fired that last shot to take out the Drakel Zombie, she noticed the small rectangular clip had popped out, leaving her weapon empty. Ideally, she wouldn't think twice before ditching the Tube Launcher for her Guardian Blade, but two things had stopped that: One, these things, from the looks of them, were natural weapons. Masters of close-quarters combat. Getting close was suicide. Two; The Mage of Despair had destroyed her Guardian Blade, and she was not scheduled to be issued another until Tuesday.

She surveyed the room she was in. She saw no accessable ammunition for her weapon, so she'd have to venture into the city to find some in her escape. In time too, just as she began contomplating escape, several Drakel Zombies came scutteling out of the airvents. Without a second thought, she jammed her hand down on the control button for the door. Two other Zombies were waiting for her on the other side. She backed up slightly and jumped, increasing her jump distance by quickly turning her cape into Dragon wings and using them to fly over her assailents slightly. (She had gained the ability to control certain aspects of her X-Boost since the Mage of Despair incident.) She came down hard on one of the abomintations, cracking it's skull wide open, spilling what resembled refried beans out of it's cavety and onto the ground. She darted off before it could get back up.

Halfway down the hall she stopped. Whatever these things were, they were not happy, and not friendly. And, judging by their appearance, some were wearing armor. Drakel armor was twice the strength as her Guardian Plate, and by the looks of the armor, they had been sliced to ribbons effortlessly. Armor, for once in her life, was completely and udderly useless. Charging down the hall she began to formulate something that remotely resembled an escape plan.


	3. Stripped

Stripped

This section of the hall seemed relatively undamaged. It looked like they either skipped this area, or they hadn't got here yet. Either way, she could stop to catch her breath here. After running such a long way, she had a pretty good idea on how to get out. It involved lots of running, maybe shooting, and a WHOLE lot of not-dying. She searched to corridor, straining her ears to listen. Nothing. Collecting herself, she dropped the empty Tube Launcher to the ground (She would get rid of it permanently, if it wasn't for the feeling of security she had when it was in her hand.) and reached her arms back, unclasping her cape from her neck guard. After letting it float to the ground, she struggled out of her guantlets, bracers and pauldrons, depositing them in a semi-neat pile on the ground.

With her arms free, she proceeded to detached her breastplate, throwing it with a thud to the floor. Her torso was now free of the constricting steel, and subsiquently, she had full range of motion from her waist up, something she would need to get her lower armor off. She could hear them coming again. Droves of them. Scutteling down the corridor, ready to tear the flesh from her bones. She had to think quick. By the sound of their snarling, she wouldn't be able to get the rest of her armor off. She tossed her torso armor down a side passage, making sure to bounce it off as many walls as possible, to make the most noise.

Those things were stupider then she thought. They charged down the hall at full speed, bypassing her thrown breastplate. Not wishing to waste any of her borrowed time, she ripped the rest of her armor off. The clangs coming from her falling steel shell re-attracted the creatures back her way. She heard the tell-tale snarls coming her way again, and, clad only in her underwear, snatched the Tube Launcher from the ground and charged down the hall, her feet slapping the cold metallic floor silently. Things were going good so far. All-in-all, her mission was completed, she just had to find someway to get out of the city alive, and in one, Catpiredragonguardian piece.

The Super City was cold. Cold and dead. The stench of those…those…_things_ hung rancid in the air. Some odd perversion of Magiscience must have gone horribly wrong, backfiring onto it's Drakel user, turning them into this half-dead form. The creatures that were chasing Maria seemed to slow down, at one point they stopped. Something she was doing was throwing them off. Maybe it was her armor? It must have had some kind of scent which attracted them to her. If she had it off, then she probably would be safe for a time, until at least, they picked her up again. Something called to the back of her mind as she passed a door. Something of interest might be in there. Fully knowing well what Atrix would say about going into strange rooms well in her mind, she opened the door and stepped in.

The room was fairly uninteresting. The only thing that really caught her eye was the large machine sitting in the middle of the room with the corpse of a dead Drakel, a _normally_ dead Drakel, before it. It's chest had been ripped open, its heart, lungs, liver and stomach spilt out of the gash and onto the floor, where it's intestinal track was laying in a bloody heap. Both of his legs had very noticable bite marks, almost like something was eating him. The zombies, maybe. The computer he was before had one message blingking on and off repeatedly on the screen: Reactor Ready. Maria activated the computer.


	4. I Need A Hero

I Need A Hero

The once-black screen clicked to life with a cheery blue hue. Several icons appeared on the screen, one was labeled "Camera Feed", another was called "Research Logs" another "Lockdown Status" and the final was called "City Core Map". Maria was well-versed in the use of Drakel technology. Something she was very proud about. This computer was a very basic design as far as Drakel equipment went. She stared at the screen for a while, trying to decide what button to push.

She decided upon "Camera Feed" maybe she could see something of interest. She jammed her finger rather painfully down on the corresponding button. The cheery blue background disappeared, giving way to a black-and-white picture of several corridors. She could see several of the creatures scurrying about for no reason. One came up on the lens, took one slice at the camera with a claw, knocking it out. "Connection Lost" appeared on the screen, resetting her back to the menu with the blue background.

She cursed to herself. Those things were getting crafty. Next, she tried "Lockdown Status". This button brought her to a similar blue-back grounded menu in which were the following displays:

Reactor 1: 100 Efficiency

Reactor 2: 100 Efficiency

Reactor 3: 100 Efficiency

Time until next Cycle: 27 Minutes, 39 Seconds

City Main Gates: Locked

Trash Disposal Systems: Active at 100

Lockdown Engaged: 3 days ago

Time until Lockdown Ends: Unknown

This screen disappeared after some time, giving away to the menu. It appeared as if this mess started only three days ago. So that means that the head wasn't stolen recently…which would give way to the suspicion that Warlic knew about it earlier, and opted to tell Maria several hours ago… Something was fishy about that.

Maria moved on to the button labeled "City Core Map" the background was replaced by a wire-frame map of Ren 'Tkak. A little red dot appeared over one area, with a line coming off of it reading: "You Are Here" Maria muttered a 'that doesn't help' and pressed the 'back' button. Only one last button to push.

'Warning: if you proceed to record a new log, you will overwrite the currently non-saved one? Do you wish to proceed and record a new one, or play the old one?' appeared in the middle of the screen, with 'play' and 'new' under it. Maria pushed 'play' and watched as the screen went black. The visage of a Drakel scientist appeared. He was seated before the console. Maria turned her head to observe the back wall. The scientist was sitting where Maria now stood.

"_Testing. Testing, one, two, three. Okay. Head Researcher's Log, entry one. The President will be happy to hear that modifications to our Tube Launcher have been complete. The clip has been tripled in capacity and it can now fire in either single-shot, burst, or fully automatic modes. Something that may be useful in the up incoming years." _The record faded and the scientist reappeared._ "Head Researcher's Log, entry two. The President himself has just informed me that we will be getting something big in a couple of days. He said our Stealth Assassins are having problems liberating it from the human mage Warlic, but he can only last so long. He wouldn't go into details, but I'm excited, as is the rest of the team. The chance to get a new toy is always better then playing with old ones." _It faded again._ "Head Researcher's Log. Entry Three. It's been a couple of days since my last log, and I apologize. I was having so much fun with my new toy. It appears as though the humans of Battleon were storing the Head of Carnax inside a small magic shop. Easily liberated. We've taken the liberty to do a preliminary scan on the creature's brain, and it appears that to have been fried from the inside. This must have been a result of the human Rinoa's efforts to psychically break the creature. It's a pity, really. In creatures such as Carnax, that part of the brain holds a great many secrets. We could have learned a lot. Oh, well. It's not good to dwell on the past. We'll begin the dissection tomorrow, provided Jo-und can get his ass out of bed." _There came a pause while it switched to the next log entry. _"Jo-und is dead. Don't ask me how, but I went to get him up this morning, and he was just, lying on his bed, perfectly still. I thought he was just sleeping. He does that a lot, you know, sleep. So I went over and poked him. Oh, god. He didn't do anything. His skin just, melted, his organs spilt over the mattress, a putrid stench assailed me, and I ran out, screaming for security. I thought he was poisoned. He had a lot of enemies, so I thought someone poisoned him. I don't know. We're getting a medical examiner in here, so he'll be able to figure it out."_ The screen went black. The researcher appeared again. _"Head Researcher's Log. Entry Four. I've got a bad vibe in my bones. Something's not right. Half the research staff is sick. We don't know what they have, and nothing we can do for them helps. The medical examiner arrived yesterday, and he's about as stumped as I am. He says he's never seen anything like this. I am, along with the rest of my staff, very concerned that we may have done something to invoke this plague. I am, as of yet, unaffected. But I fear that I am next." _ The screen cleared once again, and this time, when it reappeared, it only showed the back ground. The same screams Maria heard earlier pierced the silence. _"You like that, huh! Come on! Come get some more!" _The researcher's voice shouted off the monitor. There came a sound of a door sliding shut. _"That'll hold 'em." _ He said again. Maria watched as he leaned over the console, his face scarred and damaged, blood trailing down his cheek. _"I've got to make this fast. I am the Head Researcher for this city. We released something. People died, and came back as…as…I don't know what the hell they are! Some kind of zombie, maybe. It's been five days since the entire morgue exploded with these things. They've over-run the city, they spread like wildfire! I think I'm the only one left alive. I don't know. I've been here in R and D for days now, three I think. All the weapons were taken by the Enforcers and Destroyers to repel the creatures. Dead. All of them! They kill and spread! If anyone from the outside is watching this, and you haven't been infected, get; out; NOW! It's a slaughter house in here. Don't fall prey to my fate!" _ Another hiss followed by a crash. _"They've gotten in! RUN! NOW!"_ He was grabbed slightly by something off-screen. _"There's a self-destruct mechanism for the city in the Center Core…AGH! If you can get there and activate it, you can destroy this city and everything in and around it for thirty miles! It's the only way to make sure these things don't…GAHG! Escape! Don't let our mistake be known! I'M TAKING AS MANY OF YOU DOWN AS I--"_ Maria heard him scream, followed by a series of bone crunching and flesh tearing sounds. The front of the screen got splattered with Drakel blood in an upwards angle. She turned her head sharply away, covering her mouth. Her eyes fell on the mutilated corpse of the Drakel in the room. By the looks of him, that was the corpse of the unfortunate scientist who made all those logs. He looked calm, almost pleased to have his life end.

Before she budged, the corpse began to writhe in place, squirming for no reason, pushed by no force. As the Guardian looked on, the chest exploded, spraying blood and flesh in a bloom upwards, some landing on Maria's face and chest. She screamed in shock, watching one of the zombies form from the twisted mangled corpse. It stood, stealing bone and flesh from its host body, mangling what it took to its whim. The creature began to be fully formed, growing legs and arms from the body. Soon, it was staring the girl in the eyes, its lone blue pupil bouncing around the room, looking for a focal point. After its gaze fell on the Guardian completely, it reared its head back and screeched, it's wide mouth open towards Maria. She didn't flinch. It looked at her strangely, just before the girl snatched a fast hold of the thing's boney neck, and ripped its head off in one pull. It fell to the ground dead. The eye was still bouncing from focal point to focal point even after its disconnection from the body. Emotionless, she pulled its lower jaw off and discarded it on the ground. By this time, the head had stopped moving.

Taking up some wire from a nearby table, she strapped the head onto her shoulder, the eye open for all to see. Looking at the corpse, she had an idea.


	5. Templars of Steel

Templars of Steel

If they were going to defile the dead, then she wasn't against it either. From the body of the zombie that formed before her, she formed an entire set of armor. Maybe, this might conceal her scent, or physical form, allowing her to move somewhat unnoticed amongst the group. Taking up her Tube Launcher, she began to formulate a plan, a plan that, again, would include not dying.

Maria decided it might be a good idea to check the map again. Maybe she could get a good idea of how far she had to go. The map did show her the way. On the bottom floor, southwest direction was the reactor room the Drakel scientist mentioned. If she could get there, maybe all of her problems could go up in smoke and flames. If only the camera feed hadn't gone out. She could have gotten a good grasp of how many zombies there were.

Without further relenting on the past, she managed to open the door again. Stepping out into the hall, she strained to hear any signs of the creatures. Nothing. If she was going to make her move, it was now. Silently, she took off down the hall. They were nowhere in sight or earshot, so as far as she was concerned, she was home free.

Suddenly, the floor before her exploded, sending a flurry of metal shards into the air. Two zombies burst from the hole, and stood before the Guardian. She reacted by leveling her weapon at the creatures, but they didn't move. They just stared at the girl with a perplexed look (About as perplexed looking you can get missing your lips.) Surrounded by a false sense of security, Maria lowered her Tube Launcher. No sooner did she do this, that one took a swipe across her chest with it's claw. She jumped back in enough time to dodge the majority of the blow. This action propted the first zombie to emit a screech of aggitation. The Guardian silenced it with a bash over the head with her empty weapon. The head of the creature popped off like a volitile explosive and smashed into the opposite wall, smearing the metal a sickly teal-brown. The body simply slumped to the ground and entered a series of convulsions before finally going still. The second zombie danced its glace from Maria to its buddy.

It chose poorly. That decision was to attack Maria by making another swipe at her, this time, slicing clean through her new look, almost making contact with her skin. This time, it followed up by lashing out with its whip arm, taking a firm hold around her midrif. With her arms caught up as well, she could do little to resist the creature's pull. However, she was never one to be against squirming. Something she did very often, very well. So, brain empty of any plan, she began to writhe and contort her body in odd angles in order to try to break the zombie's grip. For an undead monstrosity, it sure had one hell of a death grip. No pun intended. It was pulling her in closer, probably trying to position her for the kill. She had to think fast.

Sucking in her pride, she reared her head back, opened her mouth, and sunk her fang-like teeth into the creature's arm. At first, it did nothing but flich slightly, continue to reel her in like some rabid fish, but as Maria bit in harder, it slowly began to release it's grip. So these bastards can feel pain. After she had dug her teeth in far enough, the beast opened its mouth and screamed the same scream from before, only louder and far more enraged. In one burst of muscle contractions, she tore a huge chunk out of the beast's tentacle and spat it out. Blood began spilling out of the wound like water from a river. The zombie reeled around on one of it's heels screeching before finally dying from blood loss. Without anymore wasted time, she took off back down the hall.

---

Somewhere, deep within the Drakel City, a gigantic mass of creature began to stirr, awakened by this new food source, however small and vicious it may be. It sent a command to all the zombies under its command.

Kill the living one who has entered.


	6. Diene Welt

Diene Welt

Six

She'd evaded them. All of them. They simply ran past her without a second glance. She was pressed flat against a wall and breathing hard. She had studied the map of the city quite throughly earlier, and was going to use it to make a quick, yet safe get away. According to the map, there was an old, abandoned monorail system near the center of the city, which lead to an ore processing plant on the outskirts of the city. If she could take the monorail to the processing plant, she could facilitate an escape via there. But there's at the heart of Zombie country, a place she wanted to avoid.

She checked her ammo bag on her ammo status. Still good. She took the break in the fighting to check the clip in the gun. Four of five, still good. But just to be sure, she pulled the clip out and slapped a fresh one in. She needed to move, but her legs were locked, impeding movement completely. Her brain was scared stiff, and unable to make decisions. As she attempted to unscramble her brain, she was interrupted by a message coming over the intercom system.

"Hello, hello? Anyone there? Can you hear me? If anyone can hear me, please, you have to help me. I'm on the fourth deck up from main engineering. I need your help! I'm in the locked door there, the code is zero zero five six. Don't worry about the Zombies, it's too hot up here for them. They can't survive in temperatures over two hundred and sixty degrees." Maria started to wonder what that was. A survivor, or a trap.

"Please! If anyone is still alive, answer this call! There's a console on the far wall from the Civilian Barracks! Please! Pick up! I don't know how much longer I have." The voice called again. Maria looked to her left to see a heavy door with the words "Civilian Barracks" printed on the top-middle in the Drakel tounge. Looking across the room, she saw the console the voice was referring to. Swallowing the sinking feeling in her throat, she ran to access the computer. The moment her finger touched the 'Activate' button, it clicked on to show the visage of a Drakel scientist. "Hello? Is someone there? Oh, thank god! Listen! I don't have much time, and neither do you. Here's what happened. We were researching the stolen Head of Carnax, I know. It was wrong, but I'm just told to do my job without questions! You understand, right? Well, anyway, we were researching the Head when members of the research team started dropping dead. We thought nothing of the fist one, he wasn't looking so hot the previous few days, so we just thought his death was natural. Well, once five of them failed to report the next day, needless to say, it had become a problem. Anyway, I don't know what these things are! But they are everywhere. Every time someone dies by any means connected to these...these...ZOMBIES, they become two, that's right. Two zombies per corpse! That means there are over five million of them still living. You have to get out! I know a way you can escape, and destroy all these bastardizations with them! But you have to destroy the Head! It may be connected somehow.

Maria told the scientist that the head was already destroyed, and it seemed to bring some comfort to him.

"Oh, good. You destroyed it. Now that their power source is gone, you can destroy the city, yes, you have to destroy the entire city to make sure none of these things escape! Towards the center of the city, you will come to an old, abandoned monorail system. However decrepit it may seem, it still works, and can carry you anywhere in the city. Take the monorail to junction 2-BFG and get off. The monorail won't stop there, so you'll have to jump for it. Once you get there, follow the corridor until you reach the reactor silo room. You have to shut down the failsafe system and set the reactor to overload. You can either destroy the silo itself, or program the system to deactivate after the next cycle is complete. Either way, it's up to you. Now, to get out. Once the failsafes are off, an access hatch will open which will..." The scientist was stopped by a DrakZombie falling from the ceiling, crushing him flat. Maria just barely heard his scream in anguish before becoming a grease smudge. The Zombie then looked into the screen, stared at Maria for around ten seconds before screaming in what sounded like rage and smashing it's fist across the panel, killing the connection. The X-Guardian muttered swearwords under her breath which were hardly audible. The static was quickly replaced by the console's main menu. One of the options, Tram System Map, peaked Maria's interest. She pressed the appropriate button and waited as the generic map of the city was overlayed with the Tram Route. There. She pointed to the dot on the map which read as 'Primary Station Omicron' and memorized not only its position, but the fastest route to it. It was a simple run-and-gun to the station, perhaps she could make it without attracting too many DrakZombies.

So much for that plan. The moment she turned around, she came face to face with a particularly ugly DrakZombie, not two inches from her face. It was breathing hard, it's breath stung Maria's eyes. It's fetid appearance was an eyesore to the Guardian. The creature seemed intrigued with Maria. It was staring at her, and she could even swore she saw it look down the front of her bra. With a disgusted look on her face, she pulled her gun right up to its face, pressed the barrel into the creatures lower jaw, uttered a clear 'fuck off' and pulled the trigger, blowing the creatures head off.

Reloading, Maria set off towards the Monorail, the words of the dead scientist still fresh in her head. As she started down the hall, she could hear more DrakZombies coming her way full tilt. Once again, they were on her tail, gaining speed and closing the distance fast. She had to think of something. Suddenly, the tell-tail sounds of the DrakZombies had died. She couldn't hear them anymore, and that silence was soon replaced by a steady hiss, followed by a slight chitter sound. Confused, Maria turned and looked down the hall to see what was making that sound. From the darkness, she saw a small, blue, two-legged creature hop out and look about. It had a small head, very small and sharp teeth, and was leaking thick black smoke from it's ass. As it looked about, it scanned everything for something to attack. As it's eyes fell on Maria, it scanned her. Having detected her as a viable target, the little creature opened it's mouth and emitted a high-pitched screech with all but rendered Maria deaf, then began sprinting her way full spread. Stunned, Maria could do nothing save watch as the little demon charged her. The smoke it was leaking became progressivly lighter in shade. She didn't know what it ment exactly, but it couldn't have been good. As the blue thing came to a rest right before her, the smoke had vanished, and its body started to warp and deform in odd ways. Soon, the creature simply exploded in a mess of blood and intestines. Maria was knocked some fifty feet down the corridor, but managed to land on her feet.

Cursing at the things she had nicknamed a "Popper", she continued her sprint down the hall, dodging every Popper she saw. Luckily, they had to stop to explode, which gave her just enough time to escape the explosion, which was not only big, but powerful too. She had no idea how the first on had managed to not hurt her.

The doors were flying by. Each individually labeled with some scientist or soldier's name or whatnot. Eventually, she could begin to see the door which read "Monorail". Tapping into a reserve of her strength, she gave an extra push of speed to reach the door before the zombies got to her. She was just about there. Another thirty, maybe forty feet and she could relax. Just before she reached the door, it opened revealing a muscular zombie standing in the door frame. Maria realized the ambush slightly too late. The Guardian only had enough time to scream 'FUCK!' at the top of her lungs before crashing into the strong zombie. The combination of Maria's strength and the speed to at which she was traveling at mixed together in perfect form to knock the strong zombie through the door and onto the floor, freeing its head. Guess it wasn't so strong after all. On the bright side, she could see she was in the Monorail docking station. The bloodstained floor mat below her read "Primary Station Omnicron". Just where she needed to go. She stood, smiled, and entered the tram. After shutting the door on a DrakZombie, or course.


	7. Der Exorzist

Der Exorzist

Maria sat in the driver's seat of the monorail and began looking over the controls, trying to figure out how to start it. She has had two years of learning the Drakel language, but there were a few things she was still a little rusty. "Start" and "Accelerate" happened to be the two words she didn't even know. She studied the console, trying to use process of elimination to figure out which ones not to push. Soon, the choices were narrowed the choices down to three. Since two were big and red with white 'X's on them, she decided not to push them. Frustrated and sweating, Maria slammed her open hand down on one of the buttons, and the tram jerked to life. There was a toggle on one side, which had "Speed" written under it. She slammed the switch all the way to the other side, and the monorail shot from the station with blinding speed. Bracing herself, Maria sat in the seat and heaved a heavy sigh of releif. He thoughts began to drift to a certain Guardian friend of hers...

Her thoughts exploded at the sound of a DrakZombie growling somewhere behind her. She looked back, quickly snapping the Tube Launcher around to the same direction. Nothing. She stood and jogged towards the back window and stared into the darkness. The sign she just passed read "10-BFE", she must be getting close. Out of nowhere, more specifically from the top of the Tram, a DrakZombie threw it's entire body weight against the back window, shattering it in one hit. Startled by the sudden action, Maria fell to the ground, landing hard on her rear, and in one quick motion, she fired once at the Zombie, blowing it's head, and half it's shoulders clean off. After the shock subsided, she stood and went once more to the window. From the dark track which was speeding off into the distance, she saw a small blue object running at very high speeds her way.

Her eyes grew larger as the object did. A Popper! She thought, leveling the weapon and firing, the Popper exploding, taking out a large section of the track behind. Then, the hisses and snarls returned from the abyss, letting her know the DrakZombies were on to her. With a silent swearword, she tucked the gun tight into her shoulder and stared through the sight.

"Bring it, motherfuckers." She whispered to herself.

Sure as silk, the walls began to crawl, to run, hiss and snarl as they passed. She watched them crawl over themselves as they tried to reach the solitary Guardian. As they began to get closer, Maria let them all taste the sweet, sweet flavor of Drakel gunpowder.

The five round clip seemed so small when faced with so many DrakZombies. To her, every time she reloaded, it seemed the clip was suddenly empty, and it made no noticeable dent in the Zombies. She used to reloading on the fly, pulling the spent clip out and slapping a new one in, all under three seconds. It was unreal how many there were. She couldn't even see the wall past all the bodies scuttling across it. She caught a glimpse of one of the section signs as it passed. 9-BFF Almost there. Only three sections left, and not a moment too soon. Her ammo bag was becoming scarily light with all the DrakZombies she'd been killing. One pounced from the ceiling, landing on all fours on the sill of the rear window. It screeched loud in the Guardian's face, which was answered by a quick uppercut, which sent it up and back, landing invisibly amongst the others. Unphazed, Maria began firing again dropping more Zombies. 1-BFG was the next sign. Maria sighed relieved as the Zombies began to back off. With a sigh, and a certain, unknown satisfaction, Maria returned to the front seat, just to see two Poppers land on the track, and begin to change shape. Just as the monorail reached the Poppers, they exploded, sending the train hurdling into the air, and into a downward spiral down into the darkness.

There came the sound of metal screeching, followed by a female scream piercing the silence. To Maria, everything went a hue of black, and she could hear nothing, except the beating of her own heart, which was slowing.

Some Unknown Amount of Time Later.

"Maria, wake up! You've got to get up! Those things are going to kill you!" A familiar voice called to her in her sleep. She managed to open an eye just wide enough to see the legs of a DrakZombie standing before her. She remained as calm as she possibly could. Slowly she clenched her right hand into a fist, expecting to feel her Tube Launcher. It wasn't there, instead it was some five feet away, strapped to a wall by some hard sticky viscous liquid. She shut her eyes, trying to pray to the Earth Lord for some way out. Suddenly, she felt a great pain in her back, something was ripping her skin, she felt blood pour down her side and pool beside her. Then, one of the DrakZombies screeched, and all recoiled away from her. She could have sworn she heard on hiss "Deeeeeeeeemon! Deeeeeeeeemon!" to the others. Pushing with all of her might on her hands, she managed to come to a stand. The Zombies recoiled farther back. Confused, Maria looked about. She had a throbbing headache, and the pain in her back didn't help.

"God, my head..." She muttered, moving her hands to her head, she felt something soft, yet pointy. She investigate farther into what was on her head. Cat ears. She instinctively stuck one hand into her mouth, her fingers getting impaled on something sharp and long. Teeth. It was happening again. Either it was some deep hatred she was experiencing, but couldn't quite control, or it was some frenzied state which had brought it out, but whichever way you slice it, there was no doubt. Her X-Boost had activated. The earlier pain in her back, she now came to realize, was her wings forming. With no cape to use, the wings had to grow from her own bone, needless to say, a very painful process. She looked herself over, staring at herself. Her physical form was no different then she last remembered, however she felt different, something was writhing inside her, moving, growing. Speaking to her. It was whispering softly into her ears, saying nice things, enticing things...naughty things. It told her to kill. Kill everything.

Something small, another voice inside her told Maria to ignore this voice, however, the other was too great, too tempting for her to just ignore on the fly like that. In accordance to it's will, she lashed out at the nearest DrakZombie, grabbing it's right arm and popping it off at the joint in one flick of her wrist. She then proceeded to play golf with the Zombie's head for the next swing, the arm sending its skull into the next Zombie. Her expression never changed. She kept the same straight face on her at all times as she proceeded to rip the nearest DrakZombie limb from limb with skill and ease. She did this for ten minutes, and in that time, she had killed five hundred and some odd Zombies. She simply leaped one to the other and killed it systematically and with frightening efficiency. As quickly as it began, it was over. The Zombies had ran from her, and were now hiding. She fell to her knees holding her stomach, growling with pain. She was hungry. She felt that something writing inside her again. It was something slippery and disgusting. As she stood, she surveyed the area, looking for more victims. Then, she saw them. Four of them behind glass, one was ferociously pushing buttons on the console before it, while the others hung over the firsts shoulder, watching. However, before she attacked them, she saw a door. It was a large Drakel Blast Door, designed to withstand enough of an explosion that anything could generate within the walls. She entered the door.

It led into a corridor with the same motif which was decorating the wall her Tube Launcher was stuck to. Growling, she crouched down on all fours and dashed down the hall, her hair and wings beating against the wind. Through some of the gunk, she could make out the words "Reactor Core" followed by an arrow pointed down the direction she was traveling. If her initial calculations were correct, if she could damage or destroy the reactor, it would send the entire city into the Ethereal Realm and all of those infernal DrakZombies with it.

After around three minutes of constant running, she finally came across the Reactor Core. A smile crossed her demonic visage as she reared up to beat the door in. With a crashing right hook from her clawed hand, the door buckled, falling to the ground.

"Welcome Maria Despair, Creature of neither the Living nor the Dead." An eerie voice spoke to her. She entered, undaunted, her clawed feet tapping on the metal plate floor. She had grown more demonic in appearance, growing a tail, claws on both her hand and feet, as well as sprouting a second and third pair of wings, each less painful in forming then the first. "I see you have made it this far. I applaud you. I must admit, while I didn't quite expect you to last quite _this_ long, you have exceeded my initial expectation of human survivability." The voice, which she could now distinguish as Drakel finished.

"I know you're in here, Drakel Demon. Show yourself, so I can kill you for the suffering you have caused." Maria said into the air, sniffing for the Drakel's location.

"Ah, so I see my secret is not so much anymore. How did you come across it?"

"Nothing is a secret, when it's a secret to everybody." Maria retorted, circle-strafing the Reactor Core. She was watching the ceiling, looking for the voices owner. "Where are you? Who are you?" She growled.

"Here! Let me show you who I am!" Something in the back of Maria's mind twitched. That slight inconsistency caused her to spin around on the heel of her foot and crouch. Just as she did so, a Drakel dropped from the Reactor supports, trying to kick her head off. "Excellent reactions. A side-effect of my serum, no doubt." The Drakel spoke, strafing around her. At first glance, he appeared to be a normal Drakel. Except for the fact that his left arm was made completely of ice, and he had three ruby-red eyes staring unceasing at her. He was shrouded in shadow.

"And just who are you, monster?" Maria barked, her voice slipping from human to draconic. The other erupted into a laugh.

"Monster! I am the monster! Ho, no, Mrs. Despair! I am not a monster. I am...the FUTURE! You're future. One, unfortunately for myself, you shall not live to see." The Drakel stepped out into the light, showing himself fully. His frame was that of a Drakel, however, his skin was pale blue. Four squirming whiskers hung from hims mouth, and his left leg was made completely of a gold metal. Maria's eyes widened. "Ah, I can see it in your eyes. Shock! Surprise! Horror. You knew this is what I appeared, yet you still stare in disbelief. Why? Is my face so horrifying, that it would stop your body dead? No. It's something else. What is it, little Guardian?" He spread his arms out, a smile crossing his face. Maria brought herself sane again.

"What are you? What have you done to yourself? And in what name?" Maria shouted, clenching her fists before her. The Drakel laughed.

"What name? Why, my own of course! Soon, the Elemental Lords, with their power sapped, shall perish from Lore. Magic will fade as people's belief in it dwindles. There will be but one replacement. Science! Drakel Magiscience shall conquer Lore! And I shall unite it under one banner! MINE! The Banner of Makkisar!" He threw his hands up, erupting into an evil, echoing belly laugh. Maria, after a bit of a pause, joined him. She threw her head back, laughing louder and deeper then Makkisar. "What are you laughing at, murderer?" Maria stopped.

"Monster..." She began, never re-centering her head. There came a long pause.

"Come again?" Makkisar questioned.

"Murderer..." She muttered softly, her fists coming to a rest

"What are you getting at, wench?"

"Hypocrite..." She spoke again, her voice in a calm rage. Makkisar stared at her

"Why, yes you are." He chuckled.

"Coward..."

"I've never know an enemy coward I didn't like."

"Take your pick of my label, Makkisar, just do NOT make the same mistake the Mage of Despair made."

"And what was that?" He asked.

"CALL ME BY THE SAME LABEL YOU YOURSELF WEAR!" She shouted, centering her head, gripping her fists around nothing. Suddenly, the air became very cold. There came a flash of light and a high-pitched screech. Makkisar recoiled, trying to escape the sound. As the light began to fade and the sound die, Makkisar opened his eyes, still partially shielded with his iced hand. As he looked at the Guardian, he saw a weapon of great size in her hand. However, it had an unusual luster to it, almost as if it were from a different dimension. Or maybe, he hazarded a guess, a weapon from the Ethereal Realm. Something fell from the blade, and landed on the floor, sizzling. "You've made a powerful foe this day, Makkisar. Prepare to die." Maria hissed, lunging Makkisar with scary fast speed. He barely had the time to dodge.

The battle was sort. Makkisar was on the defensive the whole time, trying to dodge Maria's blade. A sword he now recognized as the fearsome Blade of Insight. Once the Drakel abomination realized he was no match for an angry, supercharged, and extremely quick X-Guardian, he began to engage plan B.

"ENOUGH!" He shouted, throwing his head forward, a red beam blasting out from his third eye, striking Maria on the chest. She feel to one knee, immobilized. "I can see this approach shall get me nowhere. So, I'll just have to use my back-up." He strode to a panel and pressed a series of buttons. After turning to laugh, Makkisar fled away as the door opened. Standing beyond the heavy plate portal was a RazorClaw, however it had the same deformations as Makkisar. "This is my newest creation. I call it, the Carnis Minor. It's relatively weak for now, but I assure you, Mrs. Despair, it's more then strong enough to destroy you in your current...condition. However, should you, by some miracle, manage to destroy this, I can assure you that I shall make them stronger. Better. I shall make different strains of Carnax Hybrids! The world of Lore SHALL bow before me. Be it today, tomorrow or ONE THOUSAND YEARS FROM NOW! Oh..." Makkisar said to himself. "That sounds like a very good idea. Try to conquer the world a thousand years from now... I know as a fact the Human body cannot live for that long. You will be long dead, as will be anyone who could destroy me. I shall then unleash my creations on Lore, and gain control! AND NO ONE CAN STOP ME!" He began laughing maniacally as he walked towards a separate door.

"So, this is how it ends, huh, Makkisar? You leave, knowing full well that I can, and will chase you until your dying breath. What are you going to do?" Maria smiled.

"Freeze myself." Makkisar replied, opening the door. "I plan to cryogenically freeze myself and bury the pod deep under Lore. I shall set the timer for one thousand years, and in that time, I shall awaken, and I will not know the difference, as it will all pass in a second for me. Au revoir, Mrs. Despair!" Without another word, he stepped into the pod, pressed some buttons within and smiled as the door began closing. Maria began to look around for some way to beat the Canis Minor he unleashed after her. After leaving her hand, the summoned Blade of Insight disintegrated into nothing. With no weapon, Maria began to attempt a stand up.

Makkisar's magic was the only thing holding her down, and with the link broken, the X-Guardian could stand. The transmuted RazorClaw began to strafe around her, hissing and snarling.

"What do you want, you ugly little motherfu-" She trailed off, grabbing a near-by pipe and swinging as hard as she could at the things head. The Carnis flew from the impact into the light-blue cylinder at the center of the room, crashing through the casing and getting incinerated inside. Maria smiled, but it was short lived.

"Warning, warning. Reactor-Core: Overload. Estimated time until detonation: Two minutes and thirty three seconds."

"Ah, hell..."Maria muttered.


	8. Mein Teil

Mein Teil

Eight

Maria stared at the Reactor Core. The casing was not just cracked, but split wide open, a result of having a Carnis Minor field-goaled into it. She started looking around for a way out. The door she came in through was sealed fast with no way to open it. There were three other doors in the room. One was open, the Carnis Minor came from there, the other was the one Makkisar ran to, so most likely that was not the escape route. The third door held more promise. Above the hatch read in huge letters "To Surface". Maria's face lit up as she began running towards her hope. The Reactor Room was beginning to come down around her. Explosions were knocking huge chunks off of the ceiling and walls, throwing them around and down. The longer Maria lingered, the smaller her chances of escaping were. As she reached the door, it slid open revealing a narrow passage with a singular, slim ladder going completely verticle into the darkness. Not wasting any time to see if it was safe, she threw herself onto the ladder and began to climb faster then her limbs would let her.

The ladder kept ascending into nothing; never ending. She pressed on, though, the thought of Safiria's smiling face forcing her to push past her limits, put the pain in her arms and legs into the farthest reaches of her mind and continue. She no longer could feel her wings or ears, most likely due to her panicked state at the moment. The sounds of the reactor exploding countless meters below her began to fade into nothing, however the computer's audible countdown until obliteration was still ringing in her ears.

"Warning. Warning. Reactor-Core: Overload. Estimated time until detonation: One minute and forty one seconds remaining." It repeated. Maria kept cursing to it to shut up, that it wasn't helping, but she stopped after a while, after she realized cursing at it wasn't helping either. As she passed part of the ladder, something caught her bra. She looked down and sneered a half-growl. Not wasting any time, she pulled hard up, tearing her bra free of the nail it was caught on. She never cared that it fell down the ladder.

"Damn Drakel. Why can't you cut those things off?" She muttered, pressing onwards. She smelt something burning to her right and, instinctively, she paused just long enough for part of the wall above her to explode, expelling something very familiar. "Oh, there's where you ran off to." She smiled, catching her Tube Launcher as it flew across her vision. Slinging the weapon on her back, she got back to climbing. The ladder rungs were beginning to hurt her bare feet, but, like the pain in her palms and arms, she ignored it, pressing on; promising never to deal with the Drakel again, provided she lived.

Above her, she saw something shimmering. Never pausing, she looked up. It was a ray of sunshine. Literally. There was a window embedded into the wall which was showing the outside. She was slightly above ground level, but note a fall that would kill her. Unslinging her Tube Launcher, she began to beat the six by eight window with the blunt end of the gun.

"Warning. Warning. Reactor-Core: Overload. Estimated time until detonation: forty seconds remaining." The computer spoke again as Maria gave the window another good whack. The last hit formed a crack down the middle of the glass. Delighted with this, she continued to hit it at a faster, stronger pace. The crack grew wider and began to spread to other areas.

"God damn Drakel and their god damn Tempered Glass!" She shouted, giving the glass one last very strong hit to the center of the cracks. This shattered the glass, sending into a shower below. Wasting no time, she hoisted herself up onto the window sill and pushed off into a leap out with a great grunt. Hitting the ground, she still had to get out of the glass dome which surrounded the city. Fortunetally, it was close. She ran across the grass in her bare feet with the Tube Launcher in hand, pointed towards the glass. Firing the rest of the clip off, she watched the glass dome crack heavily. Hurling the empty weapon to the ground, she placed both arms up to cover her face as she rolled towards the dome at the last second, breaking through and out into the open of West Darkovia. Never stopping, she got up and ran away. She could still hear the computer as it counted down the city's last seconds.

"Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Reactor: Overload complete." The shock wave overcame Maria before the explosion could be heard. A sweeping wave of pressure picked Maria up, threw her fifteen feet away and into a tree canopy. She felt her body slip out of the tree. The last thing her conscious mind picked up was how hard the ground was. And the last thing her conscious eyes saw was a huge explosion in the background with a very large and very black pillar of smoke rising from the epicenter of said explosion.

--Some Unknown Amount of Time Later--

"..uys! Come quick! I think I found her!" A female voice called to unknown people off in the distance. Maria tried to move, but she was too tired to even open her eyes. "HURRY YOUR ASS UP, WOLFBLITZER!" The female voice called again. This name seemed to give Maria an untold surge of energy into her limbs, allowing her to at least flip herself onto her back. She cracked an eye open to see a woman standing over her in Battleon Guardian Armor. It was black with red trim, the red cape snapping in the cold Darkovian wind. "Maria? Maria Despair? Can you hear me?" The woman asked, moving her long light silver hair out of her eyes. Maria managed a weak nod. "Good. Maria, listen. My name is Orta Dragoon. I'm a Medic from Battleon. You're safe with us." The woman reassured Maria. Suddenly, she could hear bushes rustling not far from her. Orta looked back. "Crystal, Wolfblitzer! Hurry up! I'll need both of you to carry her back to town."

"Why the hell should we do it? You've got a perfectly good set of arms Orta." Wolfblitzer said. Something touched Maria's shoulders. Hands, by the feel of them. "Whoa. Okay, forget I said anything. Oh, while we're at it, mind if we take the long way home?" Wolfblitzer asked after walking around to stand at Maria's feet. He bent down and took hold of her ankles with that smile Maria loves so much on his face.

"No! We have to get her back! Who knows how long she's been laying out in Darkovia stark naked in this cold!" Orta barked.

"Well, she's not COMPLETELY naked, per say. She's till got her underwear on, so...But I can fix that if you want! Then you can rightfully say we found her stark naked in Darkovia!" Wolfblitzer smiled. Maria managed a weak, yet effective smile. With a great exertion of energy, she threw her head back to see who had her shoulders. It was Crystal Lion. Her black armor blending in with the darkness of Darkovia was the perfect camouflage. Crystal Lion's black hair, which was very similar in style to Maria's was twitching in the wind. The only thing that permeated this scene was the yellow hue radiating from behind her. Maria strained to see the source. It was a sword.

"When in the hell did you get a Blade of Awe?" She muttered weakly before fainting again.

--Later, in Battleon--

Since Battleon had no official hospital, Crystal Lion, Orta Dragoon and Wolfblitzer brought Maria to the next best place. Yulgar's. Maria could tell that by the sweet scent which was thick in the air.

"What's her condition, Orta?" A very heavy-set male voice questioned.

"Well, that depends. Are we talking physically, or mentally here?" Orta responded, a slight sarcasm in her voice.

"Both." The male voice responded.

"Well, physically, there's nothing wrong with her. Just the occasional scratch and nick. And, of course the obvious lack of clothing which Wolfblitzer so cautiously pointed out three-hundred and sixty three times on our return journey."

"Hey! Who's counting!" Wolfblitzer questioned, a kind of glee in his voice.

"Me." Orta barked back. "But, it's not her physical condition I'm worried about. It's her mental one. Her brain is a Hybee Hive of activity. Her brain-wave activity is up nine-fold, and her adrenal levels are off the charts. Dangerously high. Whatever went on in the two months she's been gone, it wasn't good." Something about that last sentence didn't settle right with Maria. What was it...

"TWO MONTHS!" The Sea foam-haired Guardian shouted, shooting into a sitting position.

"Yes. You've been gone nearly eight weeks now. Warlic said you'd be away for a bit, but everyone started getting worried when you hadn't been back for around, oh, a month and a half. Which, I still think is too long."

"We'll discuss that later." The heavy-set voice responded. She now recognized it's owner as Paladin and Leader of the Guardian's, Atrix Krieger. He was smiling at Maria with his arms crossed approvingly. "We're just glad to have our wonder girl back." He placed a firm hand on her shoulder, and pushing her back into the bed. "But for now, you need to rest.

"So...thirsty..." Maria proceeded to groan. Atrix smiled.\

"I don't see why? You downed twenty gallons when you got back." He spoke.

"Oh, how simple your mortal mind is, Captain Krieger. It is not lack of water which bothers Maria so...it is lack of something...far more plentiful in this room." A refined voice spoke from a window.

"Oh, hey there, Scary Vampire Lady." Wolfblitzer spoke. Maria shot up again.

"Safiria?" She shouted, gazing onto her girlfriend.

"Hello, my dear. How have you been?" She asked, spreading her arms.

"I don't suppose I could...Well...You know..." Maria diverted her eyes, almost as if she were afraid to ask it.

"Certainly, Maria, dear." The Vampress responded, bringing her right arm forward. Before anyone could realize she'd moved, Maria had pounced clear cross the room and was now clamped down fast on Safiria's wrist, sucking away. "She's so beautiful in a frenzy, isn't she?" Safiria questioned, smiling lovingly onto Maria. As suddenly as she began, Maria stopped drinking from Safiria's arm and collapsed to her knees, her head staring up.

"Oh god... I feel alive again." Maria cooed like she'd never done before, save for that one fateful night when Safiria and Maria met.

" 'Alive' being a relative notation with Vampires." Wolfblitzer used the finger quotes.

"Oh, shut up you lecher!" Orta barked at him.

"Wh-What? It's true! Isn't it! Help me out here, Crystal!"

"I don't know you." Crystal responded, walking away some.

"Feeling alive, but still...need more..." She turned towards Orta, a lust in her eyes.

"Uh oh. Hey! Wait! Don't look at me like that!" Orta backed up.

"You wouldn't deny a fellow...bloodsucker a little...milk...would you?" Maria wrapped an arm around Orta, whispering in her ear, twirling her hair. Orta looked very uncomfortable.

"Uh oh. She's turning on the old 'Vampress Charm' again. Don't give in, Orta! That's how I met her."

"I thought you met because she PowerBomb'd you off the bridge to the Female Dormitories..." Crystal stared at Wolfblitzer through narrow eyes.

"Yea, well, she had the Charm on then, too. But still."

"If you help me out, Orta, I would be more then willing...happy, really...to do anything for you to make you happy...Anything. Just name it." She was drawing circles on her chest plate suggestively.

"Okay, I think we'll leave you two alone for a bit, alright?" Atrix smiled, motioning everyone out.

"HEY! Hey, come on guys! Don't leave me in here! Especially not with her!" No one responded, they simply left. "I DON'T WANT TO BREAK MY CELBECY VOW!"


End file.
